Internal Conflict
by Blonde Panther
Summary: Pre-FE7. Uther is working with highly confidential and sensitive messages, when he is interrupted by Hector. The younger lord is frustrated with his brother's inaction regarding the suspicious activities of Lahus, and Uther has to urge him out the door before he can continue his work.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fire Emblem. If I did, Uther would have had a much bigger role in FE7.

**Characters: **Uther, Hector.

**Pairings: **The closest thing to a pairing here is Uther/Hector (AS BROTHERS YOU PERVS).

**Warnings: **Spoilers for Chapter 14E and beyond? I can't be sure myself.

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><p><em>It is as we feared. Lord Darin plans to overthrow Ositia and relocate Lycia's main rule to Lahus. I cannot say what means he wishes to employ for this -manipulative or military- and he wants us to plead loyalty to the cause before he gives out any details of his plans. I will let you know more as soon as I find more, and my next report will include a list of conspirators.<em>

Could someone please be so kind to remind that man he had a wife and son in Pherae-

Marquess Ositia looked up as pounding footsteps sounded outside his study. They could only belong to one person, so he put the report back into the folder labeled 'classified' and put it in the drawer of his desk, managing to look as if he was finished with it the second the door to his study flew open and a blue-haired young man barged in. As Uther looked at him, he idly noted that between his height, his broad shoulders and the battle axe he carried everywhere, it was hard to believe Hector was only seventeen.

For a few seconds, the two only stared at each other, until Hector finally said: "…here you are. I've been looking for you all over the castle."

Uther frowned. "Hector, it's common sense that I'd be here. Wouldn't my study be the first place you look –save perhaps the throne room or my bedroom-, rather than the last?" Then again, he supposed it was no surprise. If Hector had needed him for something, chances were he had been too busy yelling at servants and knights to stand still and think things through. Either that or he was exaggerating. Hector had a thing for exaggerating things.

"Shut up. I just hadn't thought you'd have put your lazy-"

"-Watch it-"

"-to work."

Hector looked genuinely angry. If Uther hadn't known his brother as well as he did, he would have dropped everything to give him his attention. Unfortunately for the younger one, he did know him well enough and simply dipped his quill in ink to sign the document in front of him. "If you claim to have combed the entire castle, I suppose you need to speak with me regarding some very important matter. I don't suppose you found your-"

"Blast, Uther! Don't mess with me!" The older brother smiled ever so slightly when he was interrupted before he could say something very embarrassing. "You know what I want to talk about! The same thing I have been trying to talk to you about these past… oh, I don't know, months?"

It was a good thing Uther was busy re-reading the document to ensure he wasn't agreeing to any conditions negative to Ositia –he wouldn't have been the first-, because otherwise it would have been very difficult to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. Of course Hector wanted to talk about precisely the one subject the marquess couldn't afford to talk to him about. "I know how you feel about Lahus' recent behavior. There's no need to remind me every other day that you don't trust them."

"Neither Darin nor Erik has been appearing in court recently," Hector said. It drew a nod from Uther. Not because it was true (though it was), but because he had heard it before. "I know what you're going to say, brother, and it's true I don't like court matters either. But one of us always shows his face when that's needed."

"Not necessarily voluntarily _or_ with the wanted results, if I recall correctly." Uther looked up from the document to direct a glare at his brother. "You seem to behave in the presence of Eliwood, but as soon as he isn't present to tame you… I'm sure I don't have to remind you of last month's audience with marquess Thria."

"He was asking for it." Hector crossed his arms and looked the other way. "No one talks about my mother like that." Although Uther shook his head at this, he could not entirely disagree with Hector- in fact, if the younger brother hadn't exacted revenge on marquess Thria for his allegations, the elder would probably have done it himself, albeit in a more… clandestine and civilized manner. Involving a lot less cussing and axe-swinging. Hector kept his arms crossed and tapped one arm with a finger as he looked back at his brother. "Considering your silence, I won _that_ argument."

"Not in the least." In the meanwhile marquess Ositia had signed his document and set aside both paper and quill. "It's just not worth answering is all. I believe the fact that you are now forbidden from carrying any sorts of weapons with you towards an extraterritorial court says enough about the matter. That aside, Hector…" he now stopped pretending to have anything else to do and weaved his fingers, "Don't you think your suspicions towards Lahus might be fueled just a little bit by bias?"

"Bias?"

"You and Erik have never gotten along well, Hector." The axeman's expression went straight back to enraged so fast Uther could have sworn he had expected the answer. "It's common knowledge that the two of you would drink each other's blood if it weren't so dangerous and frowned upon. You have to understand that I choose to run my own investigation rather than to blindly take your words to be the truth."

"Wait." Hector lowered his arms and seemed to calm down. "You mean you're already looking into it?"

"I did not say that." Blasted slip of the tongue. Now he had to cover it up, and quickly. "But Hector, even if I found lord Darin's absence in court and Lahus' expanding military suspicious enough to investigate, I would not tell you about it. I'm sure you understand that."

"Actually, I don't!" Uther leaned over his desk to inspect the floor under Hector's boot when he slammed his foot down. He'd had that floor fixed just a week ago after the axeman's last fit of rage. "I'm your brother! I believe I have the right to know what you're up… to…"

He promptly fell silent, apparently realizing his imprudence, when Uther stood up. Hector was tall, but Uther was just a few inches taller. "Hector. I can't be sure how reliable my sources are, but last I checked, I was marquess Ositia. Not you." It wasn't really necessary to say more, as this was usually enough to put Hector in his place, but Uther continued for good measure. "Don't try to remind me which of us has the right to keep secrets from the other. That you are my brother has little to do with this." He normally wouldn't make such a big deal out of it; he knew Hector to be impulsive, and in fact had been largely the same himself until the death of their parents. But he had to get this out of his brother's head, for his own safety.

"If there is nothing else, I'm going to ask you to leave matters of the state to me." He sat down again, calming down himself. "You're excused." He needed to get back to lord Elbert's report about the situation in Lahus… preferably without running the risk of Hector reading it.

"…Uther? Have you seen a physician or a healer lately?" The question caught him by surprise. Not just the words, but Hector's voice, as well. He sounded less upset and more… worried?

"Why would I have to? I feel fine." Lies. Blatant, obvious lies. If only he could apply the poker face he used in court to his health.

Hector seemed to fall for it. "I dunno. You've had that cold for an awfully long time now."

"Am I coughing?"

"No, but…"

"Then don't worry about it so much. People get colds all the time." But not colds that lasted for what felt like an eternity, or showed themselves in coughing that wrecked your ribs, lungs, and caused you to double over in horrid pain- at least, when you were alone and didn't have to pretend to be fine.

"I'm not worried about you. Just hoping it isn't contagious." Before Uther could retaliate from that, Hector had turned around and started to leave the room. "Fine. Whatever. If you end up deciding you trust me, you know where to find me."

"In the ring, I don't doubt." The door was slammed shut as Hector knew his brother was taunting him in the last second.

Once alone, Uther took a few moments to organize his thoughts before pulling out the report and starting to re-read it for the umpteenth time. "I'm sorry, Hector. But this is nothing that need concern you… or Eliwood."

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><p><em><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>__Uther was underused in FE7, I swear it. I think he had so much potential. And between his son being Uther's brother's best friend, his loyalty to Ositia and Hector stating that Uther trusted him more than anyone, I don't think Elbert would be one of the conspirators trying to overthrow marquess Ositia. At least not voluntarily._

_In your reviews, please don't get into the Ostia/Ositia and Laus/Lahus issue. I've heard that so many times now that I'm pretty much sick of it, and it just needlessly ruins an otherwise decent fic. I remember them as being Lahus and Ositia in my version of the in-game dialogue, so that's what I'm calling them. The alternatives just sound weird once you're used to Ositia and Lahus, anyway._


End file.
